The Grace of God....

Introduction

Brother’s and Sisters grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Behold I bring you glad tidings of great joy that is for all people! The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all people!

This week we all celebrated the day that almighty God graced us with his presence. As we unwrapped gifts hopefully we took time to remember the greatest gift of all wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. What has God’s gift of grace meant in your life? How has it influenced the way you live and how will it continue to influence how you live?

Today as we remember Jesus Christ, the grace of God in human flesh, we remember the unexpected way his grace appeared. We remember his grace extends to those we least expect, To those deemed unredeemable. Grace this amazing demands a response. How do we live according to that grace, as we eagerly await Christ second advent. It is between Christ birth and his second coming that the work of Christmas happens.

Has Appeared to All People

Titus 2:11 NRSV

11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all,

When Paul says the grace of God here in Titus what does he mean? He means the fullness of the life of Christ. A nearly completed advent journey, from manger, to cross, to grave, to resurrection. We eagerly await the second coming of Christ that completes the advent journey.

This grace extends to all people even the chief of sinners Paul who writes this letter to Titus.

1 Timothy 1:15 NLT

15 This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all.

Paul’s brief bio

*Acts 7 Stoning of Stephen

*Acts 8 approved of the killing

*Acts 9 eager to kill the followers of Christ.

In Acts 9 we also see how the grace of God that brings salvation completely changed Paul. If someone who basically made a living by arresting and killing Christ followers is not beyond the reach of God’s grace then nobody is.

Ephesians 2:8 NIV

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—

Paul experienced God’s grace on the road to Damascus. This grace he experienced taught him how to live differently. This grace encounter made him pursue the work of Christmas with the same zeal he use to persecute the church. To experience God’s grace demands a response. The grace of God has and will impact the way we live our lives. God’s grace teaches how to live as we eagerly await the second coming.

Teaching us How to live

-First, it teaches us to repent or turn from the evil and darkness at work in us and turn to the light of Christ. Don’t believe there is evil or darkness lurking in your heart, then take a look at the world around you. The world is full of destructive ways of living, in which people turn their backs on God and act according to whatever passion is sweeping them along. An encounter with God’s grace requires us to repent or turn from the darkness and evil that floods our world.

-Second, this grace empowers us to live lives that are self controlled, upright, and godly. Self controlled means to be reasonable or sensible. To be upright means to live justly or rightly. Finally to live godly reflects our devotion, our reverence or sense of awe we show God. This model shows us how to live in relationship with ourselves (Self-control), in relationship with others, (Upright), and in relationship with God, (reverence). The grace of God that brings salvation empowers us to live this way.

-Third, because the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all people we eagerly await the completion of a long advent journey and the hope that Christ will come again. What do we do in the mean time?

We partner with God in the work of Christmas. Eager to do the good works he has prepared for us. We work at being the light that shines in the darkness that the darkness cannot over come. The work of Christ, the work of Christmas invites us into God’s redeeming work for all of creation. The term good works in Titus 2:14 refers to generous and helpful actions on behalf of the wider community. These good works don’t save us, but are the result of our faith in Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 2:9–10 NIV

9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Continuing the Work of Christmas

Howard Thurman the work of Christmas begins

Having encountered the grace of God that has brought us salvation how has it and how will it shape you individually and us a church?

How can Leicester Church of the Nazarene do the good works here in the community of Leicester that God prepared in advance for you? Those good works we do may very well be a damascus road experience for someone. The good works we do may be the way someone has a life changing encounter with the grace of God that brings salvation. No one is beyond the reach of God’s grace. Let us be people who partner with God in the work of Christmas as we eagerly await Christ’s second coming.

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all people! This grace empowers through the Holy Spirit live as God calls us to live.